Change is a Good Thing: Announcing the Next Chapter of My Life

It may be hard for an egg to turn into a bird: it would be a jolly sight harder for it to learn to fly while remaining an egg. We are like eggs at present. And you cannot go on indefinitely being just an ordinary, decent egg. We must be hatched or go bad.

Sooner or later, you have to shake up your life.

With running, it means making the decision to train seriously so you can have a breakthrough race. After a giant PR, everything changes: your new workload baseline, workout paces, and expectations for yourself.

Just like in 2005 when I changed how I approached summer training before cross country (and had my best season ever), there’s always something you can do differently:

Want a promotion? Start performing at a higher level and results will naturally come.

Want to meet the love of your life? Stop staying in every weekend and go meet people that share your interests.

Want to make more money? Start working the street corner for fast cash. (<– not good advice)

Whatever your goal or ambition, change is necessary. Without change, there will never be progress.

So with that said, I’m thrilled to announce the next chapter for me: a cross country move from Washington, DC to Denver, Colorado. For the last few days, I’ve been furiously unpacking and setting my family up in our new house in the heart of Denver.

Why Move to Denver?

Morning walk for a cup of coffee!

Before this year, I hadn’t been to Denver for more than a few days. The city brought up images of mountains, skiing, and good beer. But when my wife and I had a daughter last year, we started thinking about where we wanted to live long-term. DC is great, but it’s not the lifestyle that we were truly looking for.

So we spent three weeks in Denver last May, exploring the city and we fell in love with it. The mountains are gorgeous (trail running here I come!), the craft beer scene is mouthwatering, the outdoorsy vibe of the city is palpable, and the weather makes it possible to be outside most days.

Then there’s the running scene: the Denver / Boulder area is a distance running mecca. With fantastic weather and easy access to altitude and trails, Denver is a hub for runners who are passionate about their sport.

Whenever I’m confronted with a difficult life decision, I think about what I value most and that always leads me to the right answer. Reflecting on what’s most important to me – and what I want to avoid – is my standard decision-making framework.

DC is one of the worst traffic cities in the country and has a hectic, “work at all costs” mentality because of politics that never resonated with me. Plus, the cost of living nearly rivals New York or San Francisco. Why stay?

While losing Rock Creek Park stings, knowing that I can drive 20 minutes to some of the best trails in the country makes that an acceptable loss.

People are friendlier. Traffic is virtually non-existent. I now have a formal office! The drier climate will make running in the heat of summer a lot easier. And the beer sure is good 🙂

Change is Brewing for Running, too!

Moving to Denver isn’t just about the benefits of the city. It also marks a big transitional time in my running career: after 16 years of training competitively, I’m now more interested than ever in different running goals than just trying to get faster.

Speed, personal bests, and racing the clock dominated my approach to running for the majority of the last two decades. After any race, I was most interested in the time next to my name in the results. If it wasn’t a PR, it didn’t interest me.

But as I get older and grow my family, other types of running achievements are more attractive. There’s just so much more to running than getting faster.

I’d love to seriously get into trail and mountain running. Maybe even take a shot at ultra running!

Instead of traditional road races, I want to test myself at more obstacle races like Warrior Dash.

I also want to accomplish a few training records in the process, like finally running 100 miles in one week and 400 miles in one month (pro tip: attempt this during a 31-day month).

With the natural landscape and running scene in the Denver area, I know I’m in the right place.

What does this mean for you?

And as I write the next chapter of my life and running career, I’m thrilled to have you along for the ride. Strength Running provides me accountability to practice what I preach (how can I skip a core routine now?!), share the lessons I learn along the way, and better help runners of all levels achieve their goals.

SR is about so much more than just getting faster. Of course, you can get a helluva lot faster with the advice and resources here. But what if you want to…

Strength Running has helped with some of these so far – and it will continue to help you use running to accomplish all of your goals, whether that’s a PR, a 100-mile ultra, or simply to lose 10 pounds. And there are many new projects on the horizon that I’m incredibly excited to share with you. Stay tuned!

Change is the only constant and I’m already feeling more inspired and fulfilled by helping runners reach new levels.

Thank you for being part of this special community of runners! SR has big things in its future 🙂

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Comments

Good Luck Jason! Similarly, we fell in love with Denver after only a week in town and moved here 3 years ago and haven’t looked back. The running scene is amazing here and after 3 years I still really haven’t scratched the surface, but have met many great and inspiring people around here. Looking forward to hearing more from Strength Running in the future. Take Care!

Congratulations on the move and what a nice photo of you with that little cutie! I’ve been to Denver and Boulder several times and can certainly see the appeal of living in that area, especially for someone with an active lifestyle. But it is beyond me why you would want to leave our humid DC summers behind 😉

Congrats on the exciting move! Must be beautiful and a running mecca. It would be interesting to hear of your tales of acclimation in training. I just moved 3 weeks to 6,000+ft from a life at sea level and am still having a hard time with training. Just read Camille Herron’s blog post on altitude and it’s the best thing I’ve read. Good luck!

Congrats on the move to the Mile High city and Colorful Colorado. I did the opposite move (to DC from Fort Collins) last fall, and I miss Colorado almost every day. Your blog (and my proximity to Rock Creek Park) really inspired me to (try to) run long and stay healthy. I look forward to reading your dispatches from my home state. You’ll get used to the altitude soon enough. Also, you would probably enjoy climbing Longs Peak if you have the opportunity.

ah trails…i have easily transitioned to a trail focus with road runs for convenience sake. you will LOVE trails and they will give you something very different.
i find with trails i am forced to be in the moment…i have to pay attention to where my foot goes, but i also HAVE to listen to the sounds of the forest. it’s amazing and akin to meditation for me.
i have also found the trail/ultra community to be amazingly warm, inviting, friendly and have turned into a new family for me. the focus AWAY from PBs and pace also let’s you let go and focus on just getting it done.
considering the changes you are making in your life, it seems like the perfect fit!
congrats!